


neo in high school

by seokchi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, High School, Lots of it, M/M, Mutual Pining, i love donghyuck in this idk why, jesus so much fluff, ot18 in high school, this is just high school nct with fluff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-01-11
Packaged: 2019-10-06 01:02:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17335706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seokchi/pseuds/seokchi
Summary: nct in high school with lots of mutual pining and LOTS of fluff





	1. duct tape & a borrowed pencil

**Author's Note:**

> ok so i know their ages are off, but for the sake of the story, please imagine that these are the grades:
> 
> Seniors:
> 
> -taeil  
> -taeyong  
> -johnny  
> -yuta  
> -kun
> 
> Juniors:
> 
> -doyoung  
> -ten  
> -jaehyun  
> -sicheng
> 
> Sophomores:
> 
> -jungwoo  
> -yukhei  
> -mark
> 
> Freshman:  
> -renjun  
> -jeno  
> -donghyuck  
> -jaemin  
> -chenle  
> -jisung
> 
> also this is an american school system bc that's all i know

_2nd period_

 

Donghyuck turned to his left. Jaemin was scribbling the date at the top corner of the test that their teacher just handed them. Donghyuck poked his arm and leaned closer when Jaemin turned his head.

“Do you have a pencil I could borrow?” he whispered in caution of the teacher overhearing.

Jaemin groaned. “Again? Bring your own pencils. Or bother Renjun.”

“Please?” Donghyuck pleaded.

“I don’t have one. I gave my extra to Jeno.”

Donghyuck looked to the left of Jaemin, where Jeno worked quietly on the test with Jaemin’s extra pencil.

Donghyuck scowled. “Why don’t you get annoyed at him when he asks for a pencil?”

Jaemin definitely gave special treatment to Jeno; everyone knew so. It was fine normally and didn’t bother Donghyuck. Unless it involved Donghyuck not getting a pencil.

“No talking, Donghyuck,” the teacher warned from the desk, peering at Donghyuck over her glasses.

“Sorry, Miss.”

Donghyuck sighed and left Jaemin alone to his test. _Or bother Renjun._  Once the teacher looked away, Donghyuck tapped the boy to his right: Renjun.

“Do you have a pencil I could borrow?” he asked again.

Renjun groaned as well but unzipped his pencil case and resentfully handed Donghyuck a chipped pencil.

“Thanks.”

“Donghyuck! Once more, and you’ll be getting detention.”

“Sorry, Miss.”

——

“Okay, this website says our fins should be parallelograms,” Yukhei announced to his group-mates.

Jungwoo leaned in to read the screen of Yukhei’s computer. It read that parallelogram or rectangle fins would create the best lift with the lowest drag.

“Okay, good,” Jungwoo approved, drawing parallelogram fins on the diagram of their water bottle rocket.

“Lowest drag? Is that a good thing?” Mark questioned, reading Yukhei’s screen.

“Yes?” Yukhei answered, albeit hesitantly.

“Yes. It’s good because-“ Jungwoo started, dropping his pencil in preparation for explanation.

“Uh-uh, no, I don’t care, I just wanna know if it’s good or not,” Mark interrupted, waving his hands.

Jungwoo sighed and picked up his pencil. He looked straight at the diagram he was drawing when he warned Mark, saying, “If you don’t pay attention, you’ll get a bad grade. Then you won’t get into Harvard.”

“I don’t need to know drag stuff,” Mark told him. “Besides, I don’t even wanna go to Harvard.”

Jungwoo raised his eyebrows but didn’t push it.

“Can I make the passengers?” Yukhei asked suddenly.

A small smile broke out on Jungwoo’s face. “Sure. Just make sure they’re 25 grams together.” Yukhei grinned at him while saluting before getting up to retrieve a scale.

Their science teacher assigned a project that the class would work on in small groups: building a functional water bottle rocket. Each rocket needed fins, a cone, a passenger weighing at least 25 grams, and a 2-liter bottle. Luckily, they were allowed to pick their own groups. Which is how Jungwoo ended up in a group with Mark and Yukhei. Mark was very smart and did well in every class, except he didn’t have a care for science. Yukhei cared an equal amount for all classes (even if the amount wasn’t much) and to be honest, Jungwoo liked having him around for his energy and as a mood-setter for their group. And he was handsome. But that was a different story.

“Mark, do you happen to have a 2-liter bottle at home that we can use?” Jungwoo queried, now using colored pencils to color in the diagram.

“Uh, no. But Donghyuck probably does so I’ll just ask him. Last week, when I went over to his house, he had three 2-liter bottles of Sprite lined up on his desk.”

Jungwoo chuckled at the story just as he heard Yukhei yell his name from across the classroom. It was loud, but the noise got somewhat drowned out by the chatter of the other students.

Jungwoo made his way to Yukhei, who was holding a very large scale in one hand and had a giant smile on his face. The boy’s energy was insane.

“Let’s go measure rocks! For passengers.”

Yukhei knew Jungwoo enjoyed his excitement. Which is why he always carried this effervescence: to see Jungwoo smile. Most people would get annoyed or tired at the constant animated personality Yukhei carried, but Jungwoo never did. Yukhei liked Jungwoo for that and always kept him around.

Jungwoo always smiled whenever Yukhei showed enthusiasm over something. He even smiled when Yukhei gasped and said he wanted to name the passengers “Pete” and “Bill”.

He smiled when Yukhei drew a fun face on one of the rocks and made a fedora out of clay to “add personality”.

He smiled when Yukhei laughed _very_ loudly at a joke Mark told.

And he definitely blushed when Yukhei complimented both his passenger and his smile.

Yukhei decided that a blushing Jungwoo was just as cute as a smiling Jungwoo and he wanted to see that rosy tint on his cheeks forever.

——

Ten watched the minute handle of the wall clock tick by slowly. He twirled his pen in his fingers. He matched his breaths with the sound of the whiteboard marker on the whiteboard. Frankly, he did everything except listen to the lecture.

He leaned over to Doyoung next to him. “I miss Taeyong.”

“You always do,” Doyoung told him in a low voice, taking notes on what the teacher was blabbering about.

“Not when he’s with me.”

Doyoung didn’t engage in the conversation. Of course. He actually wanted to go to university. Ten tried his luck with Jaehyun, who sat to his other side.

He leaned in, just like he did with Doyoung.

“You miss Taeyong,” Jaehyun finished for him, eyes still on the board.

“Yes, but I already complained to Doyoung about that.”

“Then what are you complaining to me about?”

“I’m bored.”

“Me too.” Jaehyun removed his eyes from the board (that he never was really paying attention to) and pulled out a roll of duct tape from his bag.

Ten loved this game. The objective was to stick pieces of duct tape on people without them knowing. Simple, childish, and fun.

Ten ripped a piece from the roll and slid next to Doyoung. He placed a hand on his shoulder, simultaneously sticking the piece onto his shoulder. “Hey, do you have an eraser?”

“Yeah, it’s in my bag.”

“Thanks.” Ten pretended to search in his bag before sliding away with smile. Success. A piece of duct tape was stuck on Doyoung’s shoulder.

Ten remembers the time Jaehyun stuck a piece on Sicheng and it stayed on for the whole school day, plus when he went out for dinner with Yuta. It probably could’ve lasted until the next morning, but Yuta notified Sicheng about it and Sicheng texted Jaehyun in all caps about how impressive it was.

When Ten retreated back to Jaehyun, he saw a piece of tape on the girl sitting next to Jaehyun. Ten chuckled and once Jaehyun smiled back at him, Ten leaned in to Jaehyun.

“I dare you to get one on Mrs. Park.” Mrs. Park was the teacher who was currently writing about passive and active voice on the board.

“You got it.”

Sure enough, once worksheets were passed out, Jaehyun raised his hand for help and smoothly laid a piece on Mrs. Park’s back when she came over to his desk. Ten snorted but continued his work until she left and he high fived Jaehyun.

——

Yuta and Johnny texted each other from their computers while they sat on opposite sides of the classroom. Though they were supposed to work on their introduction paragraphs for their essays, they occupied themselves with an activity that brought more joy.

A new message popped up on Johnny’s screen. _Kun said to stop texting._

Johnny replied simply. _Tell him to join in on the fun._

He watched as Yuta smiled and nudged Kun to deliver the message. Kun pulled Yuta’s laptop towards himself and typed a message for Johnny. _We’ll see who gets an A on this assignment then._

Johnny smirked. _If I get a higher grade than you, I’ll never let it go._

_Johnny, the only time you got a higher grade than me was before I transferred here._

_Yeah, I was a happy straight C student in middle school._

Taeyong elbowed Johnny’s arm. Johnny looked up from the screen to see the teacher walking around the classroom. He immediately switched applications so his screen showed only the Google Doc (which was empty).

They weren’t bad students. They weren’t as diligent as Kun or Taeyong, but they weren’t bad. Though As weren’t Johnny’s average, he did put effort and time into his assignments and would get usually a B. Some days, though, he was just _really_  bored. And today fell into that category.

That’s why Yuta sent him funny pictures of his boyfriend and Johnny sent pictures of their friends. He lacked a boyfriend of his own, but he didn’t concentrate on that for long.

“Johnny, could you read aloud your thesis as an example?” the teacher suddenly called out, looking straight at Johnny.

“Uh,” he stammered, switching applications to see a very empty document staring back at him.

He glanced at the teacher. “I don’t have one…yet.”

She sighed. And that’s why he has a C in his studentship section.


	2. failed test & soccer practice

“Well, I failed my test!” Donghyuck announced angrily as he walked over to their daily lunch table.

Every head turned in concern or pity. “What do you mean?” Mark asked.

“Ms. Kang found me during study hall to ‘discuss my study habits’,” Donghyuck complained, finding an empty seat next to Mark. “My lovely test had a big F circled on it.” He buried his face in his hands.

“Donghyuck, you can ask to retake it. Ms. Kang is really chill with retakes,” Taeil told him, being experienced with this type of situation.

“Yeah, I know. Just my mom’s gonna kill me when I get home,” Donghyuck groaned.

“You can come to watch our soccer practice after school. That way, you’ll avoid her for longer,” Jisung offered, smiling and signaling to the people in the soccer team, including himself, Jeno, Mark, Jungwoo, and Yuta.

Donghyuck looked up. “Yeah, that sounds great.” In his mind, not only would that allow him to avoid his mother, but it also allowed him to watch Mark for two hours. And anyone who knows him knows that he never gives up an opportunity to stare at Mark in admiration.

Jaemin turned towards Jeno, who sat to his right. “Can I come watch, too?” he questioned as Jeno met his gaze.

“Sure,” Jeno replied, still keeping the eye contact despite his complexion turning peachy as it progressed. And suddenly, they were in their own little world. “What are you avoiding?”

Jaemin shrugged, eyes dropping to Jeno’s lips for a quick moment. He cherished the times where those lips curved into a bright smile.

“Responsibilities?” Jaemin guessed. “Work? I don’t know.”

Jeno hummed in understanding. Jaemin broke the eye contact to stare at something nearby the table in silence. He suddenly parted his lips and opened his mouth and Jeno smiled because he knew he wanted. Jeno brought his container of banana milk towards Jaemin so he could comfortably close his lips around the straw.

Jaemin rarely brought or bought his own lunch, which left Jeno the responsibility to feed him. He didn’t mind at all. He began packing more food every day, just to give to Jaemin. It was a routine; sit next to Jaemin and let him grab whatever piece of food he liked, including drinks, including his banana milk.

“Finally!”

They all turned to see Ten jogging over to harshly wrap his arms around Taeyong. Taeyong gladly reciprocated as Ten began to complain.

“God, she kept there for fifteen minutes because we were being too loud.”

“By ‘we’, do you mean  _you_?” Renjun asked.

“Shut up, Renjun. You’re my least favorite.”

“Yes! It’s finally not me!” Donghyuck exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air in excitement.

“You’re tied, now,” Ten decided, closing his eyes to focus on Taeyong’s embrace.

Sicheng followed Ten’s path to the table and once he arrived, Yuta’s arm immediately found its way around his waist.

“Every 10 seconds, Ten kept whining about how he could ‘be making out with Taeyong instead of being here’,” Sicheng groaned, missing how Taeyong’s cheeks turned pink at that.

“Ew,” Donghyuck commented.

“I hate you. Renjun, you’re free. Donghyuck’s my least favorite, now,” Ten announced.

“That’s fine, I have Mark,” Donghyuck shrugged before leaning in to kiss Mark’s cheeks. Unfortunately for him, Mark retracted his face instantly and smacked his thigh.

 

——

 

“Everybody get in!”

Luckily, Coach Yoo was fine with students coming to watch practices. It only became an issue if there weren’t enough seats in the van that as used to transport players to the park for practice; like today.

The whole vehicle held enough seats for an impressive number of twelve passengers. With the coach, Jungwoo, Yuta, Jisung, Mark, Jisung, five other players, and Donghyuck as an observant, that left no seats for Jaemin.

“I can sit on the floor,” Jeno kindly offered but before Coach Yoo could respond, Jaemin interrupted.

“No!” Jaemin objected. “I can sit on Jeno’s lap.” He smiled casually at the coach.

Coach Yoo glanced at Jeno, whose ears began to flush. “Is that alright?” Coach Yoo asked.

“Uh, yeah, for sure,” Jeno answered honestly, nodding.

“I wish I could sit in Mark’s lap,” Donghyuck mumbled, earning a smack on the arm from Mark.

Once everyone filed into the van, Jaemin took his seat: Jeno’s lap. Jaemin wasn’t heavy; he was actually quite comfortable. Jeno’s arms rested by his sides and although he wanted to just wrap them around Jaemin, his quickening heartbeat (which Jaemin could feel) disallowed the action.

“Uh, Jaemin?” Coach Yoo called, showing hesitance that he actually knew the name. “You got a seatbelt or something?”

Jaemin reached and wrapped Jeno’s arms around himself with a smile. “Yep.”

As they began to drive, Donghyuck snorted. “Jeno, you look like a tomato.”

“Screw you,” Jeno muttered.

 

  
Jeno kept missing the ball. He would run around the field and then Mark would pass the ball to him and it would go straight past him, allowing the other team to score.

Mark jogged up to him as Coach Yoo blew his whistle to signal a goal and to restart the kick-off.

“Dude, what’s happening?”

“Nothing,” Jeno brushed off, heaving and feeling a drop of sweat roll down the side of his face.

Mark didn’t quit. “Seriously. You look distracted. What’s happening?”

“Jeno!”

There’s what’s distracting him. Jaemin waved Jeno over from the sidelines. Jeno mumbled something incoherent to Mark before jogging up to Jaemin.

“Hey.”

“Jeno, are you okay?” Looks like Jeno wasn’t being subtle.

“Yeah, I just,” Jeno paused to take a breath, “there’s something on my mind. I promise I’m usually so good.”

Jaemin smiled at him. “Okay then. Go show me how good you usually are.”

Jeno chuckled before Coach Yoo yelled at him to return to the field. “Good luck!” Jaemin shouted at him as Jeno ran back to continue the game.

_Show me how good you usually are._

Jeno watched intently as Jungwoo passed the ball to Yuta. He watched Yuta dribble the ball halfway across the field and he definitely watched when Yuta signaled that he was going to pass the ball to him. Jeno took a breath in and Yuta kicked the ball towards Jeno. Jeno successfully received the ball and began dribbling towards the goal. He took breaths in time and noted the goalie’s stance. He avoided another player trying to steal the ball and right when the moment was perfect, he kicked the ball to the top right of the goal. He bit down on his bottom lip as the goalie missed it and the ball went right in, scoring a point for Jeno’s team.

Jeno heard the loud cheer from Jaemin and he grinned. Mark patted Jeno’s back, praising him with a “Nice one.”

The euphoria was addictive and Jeno was reminded why he loved this sport. He was hot, dripping sweat, and breathing irregularly, but he was smiling bigger than he did the whole day.

 

 

The clock turned 5:30 PM and Coach Yoo blew his whistle to tell the students to pack up and climb back into the van so he could drive them back to the campus for pick-up.

Jaemin stood with a bottle of water and a towel, waiting as Jeno jogged up to him.

Jeno gratefully took the water and chugged it as Jaemin wiped Jeno’s neck with care to help clean up his sweat.

“You were great, Jeno. Just like a professional,” Jaemin appraised with a gentle smile.

Jeno finished the refreshing water and beamed back at Jaemin. Jaemin continued wiping Jeno’s forehead as he asked him, “When’s your next competition?”

Luckily, Jeno had the date memorized so he didn’t need any thought process, which was something he probably couldn’t access with Jaemin lovingly dabbing him with a towel.

“Thursday. I get to skip 7th period.”

“Really?” Jaemin exclaimed. “If I come watch, can I skip too?”

“Actually, yeah. They let Donghyuck do that every time.”

Jaemin chuckled and shook his head. “The boy loves his Mark.”

Jeno laughed. “Yeah, last time, he came with an LED-light sign that said _GO MARK_  with hearts.”

“Well,” Jaemin teased, finally finishing wiping Jeno. “Expect that on Thursday. Except mine will be bigger and say _GO JENO_  with more hearts.”

Though it was a joke, Jeno felt warmed at the support.

“Come on, guys. Let’s go,” Donghyuck notified them, patting Jaemin on the back before running after Mark.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAVE A SUDDEN URGE TO PUT ANGST IN THIS AND I RLLY DONT WANT TO BC ITS SUPPOSED TO BE INNOCENT HIGH SCHOOL FLUFF BUT THAT URGE IS THERE


	3. heart doodle & pre-calculus confusion

“This is offensive. I’m genuinely offended at this,” Mark announced.

He stared at his textbook with an old pencil in his hand as it stared back.

Donghyuck leaned back in his chair, balancing on the back two legs of the chair. “Don’t be a baby. Do your work.”

“Shut up.” Mark pressed his hand down on the front of the chair to pull Donghyuck back on all four legs. “You’re not even doing your work.”

“I’m taking a break,” he defended.

“A long one,” Mark mumbled, loud enough for Donghyuck to hear clearly.

“I literally brought you snacks,” Donghyuck retorted, signaling to the box of cookies & cream Pepero and the package of banana Hi-Chew.

“Doesn’t excuse the fact that you spent twenty minutes looking for your green pen.”

“I needed it to do my work!”

“No, you didn’t! You used it to draw hearts on both sides of your title!”

Jaemin let out an annoyed yell. “Oh my god, _please_  stop bickering for one second so I can work!” he scolded from the bed, where he was laying down on his stomach next to Jeno with his notebook in front of him.

“If Mark stopped criticizing my work habits, I’d be quiet,” Donghyuck grumbled, crossing his arms across his chest.

“You-“

Jaemin interrupted Mark before he could even begin to refute. “I _will_  separate you two.”

“Oh god, that gave me flashbacks to 8th grade science,” Donghyuck remarked.

“I swear, it’s like having children,” Jaemin muttered to Jeno.

“Okay, Donghyuck,” Mark started, pulling Donghyuck back from leaning back in his chair again. “Can you please work so we can all work peacefully?”

Donghyuck pouted. “I don’t wanna.”

Mark began to unwrap a piece of Hi-Chew. “Why?”

“Because it’s stupid,” Donghyuck whined, laying his body across the desk.

Mark knew that was code for: Donghyuck doesn’t understand something. Mark improved his fluency in Donghyuck from having the same math classes for years.

Mark sighed and scooted his chair closer to Donghyuck. “Which problem are you on?” Donghyuck groaned but pointed to the problem in his textbook. It was a diagram of multiple triangles in the shape of a star with some angles labeled.

“Okay, you see here how this is a triangle, right?” Mark asked, tracing the outline of a triangle.

Donghyuck’s eyes widened. “That’s a triangle! Oh my god, I just thought it was some stupid star!”

Mark giggled and nudged Donghyuck.

“You can do this now, right?”

“Yes, I can. Wow, that messes with your mind, man,” Donghyuck said, tapping his pencil on his temple.

Mark snorted, teasing him by saying “No, it doesn’t. You’re just an idiot.”

“Hey! Mr. Lee, that’s offensive.”

“Not as offensive as _t_ _his problem_ ,” Mark argued, pointing at the problem in his work that started their bickering.

“Don’t be a baby. Do your work.”

 

Jeno’s hands were really nice from this angle, as Jaemin discovered. Jaemin could see the curves of his knuckles while the sunlight filtering in through the windows illuminated the color of his golden skin. His joints bent to click the keys on his laptop’s keyboard.

As Jaemin rested his cheek on the bed — eye-level with Jeno’s hands — he turned his gaze to Jeno’s face. The soft edges of his cupid’s bow, the two moles on the side of his face, the gentle tip of his nose. Jaemin wanted to place a kiss on each feature.

But, due to his lack of courage and immense fear of rejection, he opted for doodling instead. Jaemin clicked his red pen and pulled one of Jeno’s hands to him. Jeno didn’t react and let Jaemin do what he wished while typing with one hand. Jaemin drew a small, neat heart on the soft skin on the back of Jeno’s hand, besides the lower part of his thumb. It was adorable and Jaemin blew on it to dry the ink quicker.

When Jeno glanced at it, he chuckled and his heart flipped. It was the cutest creation by Jaemin and he felt the uppermost privilege to be able to have it on his body. And when did he get so lucky as to witness the most beautiful smile that spread across Jaemin’s face. With wrinkles in the corner of his eyes and gorgeous pearl teeth, Jaemin had the power to hold both his own and Jeno’s happiness in a smile.

“Cute,” Jeno commented, the corners of his lips turning upward.

“Right?” Jaemin agreed, clicking his pen again and examining the drawing. “You could get it tattooed.”

“Really?”

“Well, of course, not just like this! I’ll have to sign it with _NANA_  under it, but after that, you’re good to go,” Jaemin said, pointing to where his signature would be.

Jeno pursed his lips in thought. He looked at the heart and then at Jaemin. “I don’t think it’s the right position. I mean, who gets a tattoo there?”

Jaemin’s smile grew wider. “Okay, then, Lee Jeno, The Tattoo Placement Specialist,” he began.

“Thank you, I prefer to be called formally by my full title.”

“Where would _you_  put it?” Jaemin finished, propping his head up with his arm on the bed.

Jeno evaluated different places around his arm with a facial expression that showed feigned deep thought. “Maybe, here,” he concluded, pointing to the right side of his inner wrist.

Jaemin inclined towards Jeno to get a better look at the chosen spot. Jeno’s breath hitched because he felt the gentle graze of Jaemin’s soft hair across his chin, and Jaemin smelled of vanilla, and Jeno doesn’t know how.

“That’s too painful. You’d cry when you get it,” Jaemin decided.

“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not actually getting it,” Jeno told him in a low voice, leaning in much closer to Jaemin’s face.

“Well, you ruined the fun with your reality,” Jaemin retorted, leaning in even closer until their noses bumped.

They stared into each other’s eyes for a moment, memorizing the glaze and shimmer their pupils had before Jaemin retracted.

“It’s transferable.”

Jaemin pushed himself up and hurried out of the room excitedly. Mark looked behind him at the door and then Jeno.

“Huh?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

Minutes later, Jaemin entered again in elation and threw himself next to Jeno on the bed again, hearing the squeaks of the mattress.

“Jaemin, don’t break my bed,” Mark warned, back turned to the bed, working on his homework.

“Sorry.”

“Where did you-" Jeno stopped once Jaemin took hold of his wrist and began wiping the ink off with a wet wipe.

Jeno knew there was always a method behind Jaemin’s madness so he kept quiet to watch how the situation unfolded.

Jaemin set the wipe aside once the drawing was gone and he retrieved his red pen again. He clicked it and began copying the heart on the right side of Jeno’s wrist. This time, he wrote _NANA_  under it in neat capitals.

“Perfect,” Jaemin declared, a satisfied expression on his face.

Jeno inspected the transferred doodle. It _was_  perfect.

“Now, I might and go get this tattooed.”

Jaemin giggled in delight and placed the pen on Mark’s bedside table.

“Are you guys done flirting now? Some people need peace to work,” Mark criticized, painting both Jeno and Jaemin’s cheeks rosy.

“You’re flirting? Can I join?” Donghyuck hoped, turning around fully.

“Hyuck, do your work for once,” Mark reprimanded, yanking Donghyuck’s shoulder to redirect his attention.

Donghyuck looked at Mark with a glimmer in his eyes. “If I finish, will _you_  flirt with me?”

 

Jungwoo attended a different middle school than everyone. Which meant he was a math level above other students in his grade, which meant he was in Pre-Calculus, which meant he was with Doyoung. And Doyoung could admire him whenever he became bored.

Being honest, it was much easier to admire him during the first month of school. Jungwoo sat closer to the front of the room and Doyoung could easily appreciate his beauty from afar. Recently, however, he became much closer with Jungwoo. And while that was absolutely amazing in regular everyday life, admiring became much harder, because Jungwoo moved his seat to Doyoung’s right. Now, to take delight in the sight of Jungwoo, Doyoung had to awkwardly lean backwards just to catch a glimpse of Jungwoo’s gentle features without being noticed.

Mr. Ong’s scribbled markings on the whiteboard, with a title at the top reading what seemed like _Vectors_. The lesson blurred together. Magnitude, Pythagorean Theorem, _Kim Jungwoo_. His favorite was the last.

Doyoung was scrawling notes in a dull pencil, copying precisely what was on the board, yet information wouldn’t cling to his mind. The numbers and variables just sat on his notebook page in convoluted manners that wouldn’t make sense unless he had a perfect attention span.

A gentle tap on his forearm from Jungwoo pulled him out of his mild stress of being clueless.

“You wrote that wrong,” Jungwoo told him in his soft voice, pointing at an equation in Doyoung’s notes.

Showing him his own notes, Jungwoo proved that Doyoung had indeed copied it down incorrectly. Doyoung’s mouth opened in realization.

“Thank you, Jungwoo,” Doyoung replied in a quiet whisper. Mr. Ong was still explaining concepts and he despises when students talked while he was teaching.

“I’m here to keep you in check.” Jungwoo giggled lightly but it proved to be very big fault.

“Mr. Kim Jungwoo!” The thunderous voice of Mr. Ong startled everyone in the room, including Jungwoo, whose face turned pale.

“If you enjoy talking to Mr. Kim Doyoung so much, why don’t you get up here and teach him how to solve this problem.”

Doyoung didn’t hate many people. He was very friendly and got along with everyone. But, he mildly disliked Mr. Ong for making Jungwoo’s eyes dart with pure anxiety and discomfort.

Mr. Ong didn’t concede defeat to the judging stares of the class and stood at the front of the classroom, holding out a whiteboard marker for Jungwoo. Jungwoo glanced at Doyoung with apprehension marking every feature of his face and Doyoung’s heart clenched.

Ache weighed Doyoung down as Jungwoo timidly stood from his seat and walked to the whiteboard in silence. He quietly took the red marker and Mr. Ong stood to the side.

“Um, well,” Jungwoo started, with the softest voice ever, as he uncapped the marker.

Every word he spoke and every number he wrote was gentle and awkward. Second-hand embarrassment was shared among the other students in the room, who uneasily watched Jungwoo live their hell. Jungwoo stuttered and cleared his throat often; every time he did so, Doyoung’s muscles became even more tense with yearning to just pull the boy back in his seat and hold him.

But Doyoung stayed in his seat and fidgeted while nodding along and keeping encouraging and reassuring eye contact to ease the experience. He would see the occasional twitch of Jungwoo’s bottom lip but he didn’t breakdown and continued the lesson. Jungwoo seemed hesitant if he knew how to solve the problem but once he finished, he ceased speaking and stared at Mr. Ong.

A painful long moment of silence went by. “Alright, sit down, now.”

Jungwoo’s body relaxed, he gave the marker back, and he sunk into his seat. Doyoung instantly wrapped an arm around his shoulders as Jungwoo began to breathe normally from relief.

Mr. Ong didn’t address the event and just continued on with the lesson. Doyoung still didn’t understand it, but his arm remained around Jungwoo, so he deemed it a productive period.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the dowoo part was inspired by my fUn math class and i thought of it during a time where i didn't know what was happening in the lesson sjkdfj


End file.
